“I have not lost it,” said Isa Das with cheerfulness.
“Thou hast not kept, nor spent, nor lost it; then hast thou been so mad as to give it away to some poor neighbour?” asked Gunga Ram, who would not so much as have given away an anna to his own brother.
“I have given it to One who is rich,” replied Isa Das; and he added to himself,—“to One who for our sakes was yet content to be poor.”
“If thou hast given thy good rupee to one who is rich already, thou hast indeed acted the part of a fool!—unless, indeed, he be likely to repay thee thy money with interest,” said Gunga Ram.
“A hundredfold—a thousandfold,” thought Isa Das, as he lifted up his eyes towards heaven. “It is there that I would lay up my treasure.”
VI.
On the following evening there was a great dinner at the bungalow of Manton Sahib. All the English gentlemen of the station were invited, and amongst them came Padre Logan.
There was much talk at the dinner-table on various matters,—the last news from Europe, the state of the crops, the movements of the governor-general, and the chance of a war in Burmah. At last Padre Logan observed to Manton Sahib, to whom he sat opposite, “I hear that yesterday you had a narrow escape from drowning.”
“Yes,” replied Manton Sahib; “I missed the ford when attempting to cross the river, lost my seat in the saddle, and never in all my life felt myself nearer to death than I did when the waters came rushing around me, for I am unable to swim. I believe that I should not have been sitting at this table to-day, had not three ryots, capital swimmers, come to my rescue.”
“And you gave each of them a rupee,” observed Padre Logan.